Trying to Report on Multiple Batches at Once

Nicole Welsh

Hello everyone! I'm hoping someone has some ideas for how to do what I'm attempting. To start, our system is a self-hosted RE7 that is migrating to RENxt within the year.


Currently there is a specific set of funds that, when contributed to, I need to make individual batches and associated reports. The individual batch per fund doesn't bother me so much, since it helps me keep the database a bit more tidy. What does bother me is the individual reports - I normally wind up having to print 20+ of them for our accounting department, and it seems like a waste of paper and a glaring inefficiency [to answer the "go digital?" questions before they come in, I'm trying to push that but regulations say we need hard copies for now].


We're using the default Gift Detail and Summary Report setups, as shown below. I redacted information to protect donor privacy and such:

   


What I want to do is something like this, please forgive the rush copy/pasting:

   


I would like to either find a way in RE, or to use Crystal Reports, to make a report that lists all gifts from a selection of batches, and then reports on them in a breakdown per batch entered. I could also feasibly do this broken down by fund.


Has anyone had any experience with something like this, or knows of a way to create a report like what I'm talking about? Thanks in Advance!

JoAnn Strommen

Are all batches on same day or different? If different days, can you include records for a date range, filter by fund and set Format > Sort by date, then constituent. Might be closer to what your looking for.

James Andrews

Nicole Welsh:


Has anyone had any experience with something like this, or knows of a way to create a report like what I'm talking about? Thanks in Advance!

Have you ever thought about learning crystal reports? Because if so, this would be an easy-peasy one to start with.


You could also recreate this in Access pretty easily, if you have that.

Nicole Welsh

JoAnn Strommen:

Are all batches on same day or different? If different days, can you include records for a date range, filter by fund and set Format > Sort by date, then constituent. Might be closer to what your looking for.

They are all on the same day, so this may be a possibility. I'd have to check with my Accounting-side person to make sure that a separation by fund would be a sufficient replacement to separation by batch.


If not, though, it's still a different way that I could store the information for the Fundraising side of things, and they may find it more useful. Thanks for the tip!

Nicole Welsh

James Andrews:

Nicole Welsh:


Has anyone had any experience with something like this, or knows of a way to create a report like what I'm talking about? Thanks in Advance!

Have you ever thought about learning crystal reports? Because if so, this would be an easy-peasy one to start with.


You could also recreate this in Access pretty easily, if you have that.

 

I did actually do the Crystal Reports training with Blackbaud, I didn't think of that! You're right, that would be good report to generate (and probably a great report to use as a refresher to how Crystal Reports operates). 


Access I would be wary to use simply due to the volume of donations I have for these reports, but it may be a good idea to start implementing for our smaller pools of specific donors. Thanks for the reminder and the new idea! 

Christine Cooke 2

JoAnn Strommen:

Are all batches on same day or different? If different days, can you include records for a date range, filter by fund and set Format > Sort by date, then constituent. Might be closer to what your looking for.

I use this report all the time for the finance department -- but I export the gift detail and summary to excel and sort it by Fund and Batch -- that doesn't really help if you have to print and not manipulate for sorting purposes at all...

Heather MacKenzie

Try creating a query that pulls all gifts by batch number (gift query that uses batch number one of as your criteria), then run your gift report on that query.


So, your gifts would be entered, then you know you need to report on batch numbers 9000, 9001, etc.  You update the query's batch numbers, and save.  Then go run your report.


Hope this all helps you out!

Mark McConnell

Hi Nicole,

I tried to attach the crystal report but it wont let me. So I have uploaded it.


Download Link: https://files.fm/u/afr9f8h8 

What the export should look like. Also make sure you create a query with the selected criteria that you would like.



 

Nicole Welsh

Mark McConnell:

Hi Nicole,

I tried to attach the crystal report but it wont let me. So I have uploaded it.


Download Link: https://files.fm/u/afr9f8h8 

What the export should look like. Also make sure you create a query with the selected criteria that you would like.



 

Hi Mark,


This kind of report is exactly what I need for reporting! Thank you so much for uploading your copy, I've been using it to make sure that I'm building mine correctly, that way I learn how to do it instead of just copying . Thank you so much for this!

Mark McConnell

Nicole Welsh:

Mark McConnell:

Hi Nicole,

I tried to attach the crystal report but it wont let me. So I have uploaded it.


Download Link: https://files.fm/u/afr9f8h8 

What the export should look like. Also make sure you create a query with the selected criteria that you would like.



 

Hi Mark,


This kind of report is exactly what I need for reporting! Thank you so much for uploading your copy, I've been using it to make sure that I'm building mine correctly, that way I learn how to do it instead of just copying . Thank you so much for this!

 

Hi Nicole, happy to help. In fact I created that report based of your question. I don't actually use a report for this purpose but glad it has helped.


Regards

Mark